Lapses Costly To Fsu

A Key Defensive Mistake And Two Scoring Droughts Doomed The 'noles.

January 12, 2004|By Josh Robbins, Sentinel Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida State Coach Leonard Hamilton and his players understand all too well the value of home Atlantic Coast Conference games. Perhaps that explains why their loss Sunday to North Carolina State hurt so badly.

The Seminoles had their chance to defeat the Wolfpack -- and to begin the season 2-0 against league opponents -- but they let it slip away. They allowed NC State forward Levi Watkins to take an uncontested 3-pointer with 1:09 remaining in the game and paid a significant price for the defensive lapse.

Watkins' shot gave NC State a two-point lead, and the Wolfpack held on for a 58-53 victory before 8,517 stunned fans at the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center.

"This team really snuck up on us," FSU senior Tim Pickett said. "Everybody thought we had this game defensively. We just slipped up a lot. Like Coach said, there were just too many mistakes tonight."

But one mistake loomed largest: leaving Watkins, who had already made two 3-pointers, wide open. Trailing 53-52, Wolfpack Coach Herb Sendek called an offensive play for his star player, Julius Hodge. When Hodge penetrated into the lane, two Seminoles closed in. Seeing his opportunity, Hodge passed the ball to Engin Atsur on the perimeter, and Atsur passed to Watkins for the easy shot.

"We knew when Julius passed it out, there was going to be some people open for an open 3," Watkins said, "and I happened to be the one and I just took it."

The loss dropped Florida State to 12-3 overall and 1-1 in the league. A victory Sunday would have been most welcome, of course. The Seminoles have lost 16 consecutive away games to ACC opponents and now face road games against Clemson on Tuesday and against Virginia on Sunday.

NC State (9-2, 2-0) used a smothering defense to hold the Seminoles to 36.7 percent shooting from the floor. Pickett finished with just 10 points and missed seven of his 10 shots.

Still, the Seminoles' shooting woes extended well past Pickett. In the first half, the 'Noles went 5:12 without a basket and in the second half endured a 5:06 scoring drought.

"Even when we're giving tremendous effort," Hamilton said, "we seem to have about a four-minute stretch, a five-minute stretch, in each game that we need to eliminate in order for us to be a good basketball team."

Florida State has lost 10 consecutive games to NC State. For a while on Sunday, though, it looked as if the Seminoles would snap that losing skid.

Trailing 52-44 with five minutes remaining in the game, FSU went on a 9-0 run. A 3-pointer by freshman Al Thornton ended the run and gave FSU a 53-52 lead.

That, however, set the stage for Watkins' shot.

"We're ready to take that next step," Thornton said in FSU's quiet locker room after the game. "We just didn't stick to our game plan. We double-teamed, and we left people wide open."